Aug 31 Unbeatable Beet Cake

I've been pretty big into making desserts with vegetables as the late summer harvest goes into overdrive -- making a beet cake to use up those prolific, purple roots appearing in my CSA order seemed a no-brainer.
A friend of mine posted a recipe on her blog earlier this year and using that and my own cakey preferences as a jumping-off point for internet recipe-sleuthing, I devised my own variation on the beet cake theme:

Ingredients

1 cup vegetable shortening

1 1/2 cups turbinado sugar

3 eggs

2 cups beets (blanched, peeled and finely chopped)

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

6 tbsp cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 10-cup round cake pan. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together shortening and sugar. Beat in eggs, then add chopped beets and vanilla. Mix well.